Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for augmented reality.
Description of the Prior Art
The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the present invention.
Augmented reality games are becoming ever more popular, with examples including Invizimals® for the Sony® PlayStation Portable® (or PSP®), and for the PS Vita®. Such games use a camera operably coupled to the portable device (or built-in) to capture video images of the environment and identify so-called fiduciary markers. An example of a fiduciary marker 800 is shown in FIG. 1.
Such a fiduciary marker typically has a high contrast pattern within a clearly defined border or comprising clearly defined corner regions, and generally has no symmetry. These features allow for good recognition and determination of the fiduciary marker's position and orientation within the environment. The captured video images can then be augmented by the portable device with computer graphics that appear to integrate into the environment because they are positioned and oriented responsive to the position and orientation information determined from the fiduciary marker.
Recently, more complex augmented reality applications have also been released for the Sony PlayStation 3® or PS3®, such as the WonderBook® application, which uses a book comprising a plurality of pages upon which respective fiduciary markers are printed; this enables augmentation of the book itself in order to tell interactive stories.
It is desirable for such more complex applications to also become more portable.
The present invention attempts to address or mitigate this desire.